Overview
- Range Media Partners filed a countersuit in California state court seeking an injunction blocking CAA from enforcing noncompetes and at least $1 million in damages.
- The complaint claims CAA has threatened to cancel vested equity for employees who consider joining Range, while not issuing similar threats for moves to other management firms.
- Range cites the ongoing JAMS arbitration launched in 2022 over tens of millions in canceled equity, pointing to reports that arbitrators found CAA’s noncompetes invalid, though the process is confidential and no final award has issued.
- CAA rejected Range’s account, with attorney Bo Pearl asserting the former agents forfeited rights by forming a competing business using stolen CAA property and calling the new filing a meritless last-ditch effort.
- The legal fight runs parallel to CAA’s 2024 lawsuit that a judge narrowed in August while allowing claims to proceed, as both companies operate with overlapping client lists of roughly 150 names.